Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 134 › Conversation 134-005

Nixon phone call with Colson on 1972 Presidential Campaign and George McGovern

Saturday, June 24, 1972 · 9:22 AM–9:50 AM ET · Camp David Study Table · 28 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Colson, Charles W.Conversation134-005 on Tape 134 (tape position 00:03:50–00:31:26)StartSaturday, June 24, 1972 at 9:22 AMEndSaturday, June 24, 1972 at 9:50 AMRecording deviceCamp David Study TableSourceNixon Library record for 134-005 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Charles Colson discussed political strategy for the 1972 campaign, focusing on delegitimizing Democratic challenger George McGovern by highlighting his extreme platform positions. They reviewed current economic policy concerns, including inflation and the Cost of Living Council's management of government meat procurement, while agreeing to minimize direct engagement with businessmen. Furthermore, the President directed Colson to ensure that administration talking points regarding recent press conferences were effectively distributed and utilized by surrogates.

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello.
Morning, Mr. Blizzard.
Hi, how are you?
Fine, sir.
Well, what's new today?
Today?
Well, we've set a pretty good set of floods.
I've got to go.
That's really what you do, you act.
That's what it is.
Yeah, we do it.
We have an argument for it.
Right.
Right.
We've laid out a whole plan for it.
It's huge all the details, especially what I've done to it.
It goes down, it goes all the way up, it goes all the way high.
Pretty much I would, uh, have it laid out if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh, if you, uh,
I found because he had to direct him to call Connelly about the international monetary thing and the British had also told him about the food.
The, uh, what I called, I said Connelly would also love
He hoped we would not be there.
Right.
Well, that's right, and we didn't.
Conway was very up for it.
Was he?
Oh, where was he when you got him?
I can't say.
Huh?
Who was he with?
How did he like it?
Did he say anything about his trip?
He said he'd been having a very difficult trip, but he said, please tell the president that we're going to have a great trip, so we're going to take it.
Sit up for 18 hours a day.
We're going to get rid of all this.
And he said, uh, he's had a great time, and, uh, he couldn't resist that politics where he studied
That's what he's interested in.
Oh, it is?
Oh, God, it's so funny.
Oh, he was a good boy.
He said, dude, I told him that the dollar bill was going to hurt him.
He said, good, good, good.
He said, now we want to just take a little dip and start up again.
And he said, dude, you know, he was a little bit worried about being fired.
He said, I don't know.
He said he should have heard what the public had found, and I did not.
But today, do you see how I have been completely controlled over the night number one?
I told him what I had to say to the gentleman, and he did.
He said how it was very important that he be with us.
He could cry with it, and he could cry with it, but I'm sure it will work out as long as I've got the key.
I told him I'd do it on my own, and I'm sure it's a good thing.
But this year, I wanted to do it, and I did it.
It was food.
It was food, I think, sir.
What do you mean by that?
It was food, sir.
It was food, sir.
It was food, sir.
It was food, sir.
Top flight.
Establishment telegraph.
Yes, sir.
All right.
Getting the man forward when I hit the traffic.
I'm really watching him.
I telegraphed him.
I got him right after the year.
Right after the telegraph.
I got one of the other guys to do.
Anyhow, we follow the direction.
We get on the visibility yet.
Prominent telegraph.
That's a trip, but probably less because I'm using it.
You won't be able to do it bravely.
Yeah, I... Parker, that's the one gang, of course, that I... You know, he's sensitive about it.
I always call on everybody else to go out and say thanks, but...
But he just isn't worth a damn.
And he gets before that too.
Now, there's just... We can't get ourselves about that.
But now, you see, he comes through.
To us, we know him.
You've got to know George, too.
But you'll be
When he tries to be effective, it doesn't come over.
Well, he's a low-key.
He's a low-key guy.
That's right.
Cool, real cool.
The thing is, it's a little slow, and I don't know if I'm going to hide, but they have this thing to either hide, and he's not good at it.
He should take a first crack at it with him.
That's right.
He won't have the publicity value.
But if he is, it's a big shot if you're doing it, which will help if you take time.
There are some other things that could be an help, but it's been a little bit easier.
I was stopping at the airport.
There, at the airport, I think, at the U.S. Air Force Base, I was at the airport.
I was at the airport.
I was at the airport.
I was at the airport.
I was at the airport.
I was at the airport.
I was at the airport.
A real problem will be, let's face it, the CPI figures in the next two months.
It's, uh, it's, uh, next, I don't think there's a hell of a lot we can do about that.
Well, the only way, we just, we just hope the price, they come down in September.
Well, if September's a critical month, if they just start moving down then, or, I mean, moving down, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or,
The one thing, too, that I don't believe that these people will cap on their physical eye cut in later, this storage of meat and stuff, and also the government purchases is a hell of an item.
In other words, if that ticket can really get the government just not to buy anything,
And right now, they're just, you know, they buy them up for two or three months and they store it up in freezers.
Just say, run your stocks down now.
Let's run them down.
Well, they can do that perfectly.
They can do it on the basis that they expect prices to be down two months from now.
Well, if you had to do it, they can buy it, but they don't want to.
They don't have the money.
Oh, God, it's just unbelievable.
Look at all that tremendous waste that goes into it.
Anyway, we're just going to hog wild.
Well, I think Jeff, you know, Jeff is all excited about this.
That's how you want to look at it.
In my respect, it's better to show us.
Then we take something and then try to analyze whether it's correct or not.
Right.
The cat doesn't give one damn.
He says, well, boom.
And it goes.
Yep.
I've heard you can't do it today.
Let's put it on the watch.
We'll let you know.
Yeah, he did it.
He's a great guy.
Yeah.
He's a great guy.
We've got the right translation of the cat.
We've got the right translation of the cat.
No, no.
I don't think I should do it because I don't think it'll be effective.
I mean, I just think this job money's got to be a bit...
And I just don't like me to get in with all those retailers, those are mainly Jews, and tell those sons of bitches to, you know, who's alive and hear them squeal about their profit margins.
I mean, I can hear them whining now.
You know, I'm not going to do it.
The business people, I'm not going to see any more businessmen between now and November 7th.
No more businessmen at all.
I think it's up to them to start acting like, you know, grown-up people.
The hell with them.
I really mean that.
I do, but the people here...
And he's still going to rescue them.
They just, they're lucky you can be around.
Well, I agree.
You ought to stay away from us.
Yeah, you're good.
The other side of that corner, if you want to save your time, you see other people who don't want to quit.
That's the point.
Despite the business people should be coming to us, we're not to them.
That's the difference.
Yeah.
So right now, they're a little bit scared of McGovern.
Well, little is good God.
That's my point.
They ought to be scared to death.
We don't give a damn whether they're like me.
The point is that they want McGovern.
And they've got to make up their minds.
If they do, we're all right.
Oh, my God.
You ought to let him in charge of some business.
Look, you see, now, he's very good.
He's regular.
He's an economist.
He's Jewish.
And I think you should just knock him dead.
He's enthusiastic, you see.
You know, that's the trouble with most of the economists.
They're just so low-key, and that's the thing.
And so you
Get him on a talk show.
I'll tell you what, one of those would matter.
Who's that?
It's Kermit.
Kermit?
Kermit and me are intimate friends.
Oh, well,
You know what's going to happen?
We're going in there to stop.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
No, if it loves to hang, isn't that?
Between 900 and over 900 is the main thing, but it may drop.
With McGovern's prospects, it could drop below 900, believe me.
That's right.
I know what happens.
These people get scared of things small, son.
Well, it's a, you know, it's a player to be scared of.
I've been out there a few hundred years.
They're all calling up to the government market.
Yeah.
It's going to create data.
It's a lot of data.
You start to think of it to have the market at 9.47.
It's pretty damn good.
Oh, sure.
And all those assholes that wanted to get out when it was 6.30 when I told them to buy.
Yeah, they said it.
Well, I don't think it's good.
I don't buy it.
I don't buy it.
I don't buy it.
I don't buy it.
I don't buy it.
I saw something up in black.
I saw the poster in the front page.
We protected him in our senses and we were going to support him because of his increase in black.
Oh, sure.
No.
That's fine.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
If all of your pieces really stuck together like that, then we're in danger.
Uh, you can't pull them apart.
If you do that, we're just going to be dead.
That's how I feel.
That's where we get out of this.
All right.
Well, you're in there up to 1,550.
Yeah.
With that, that's what put them right over the top.
Right.
So, I mean, I'd have to do it.
That's just great.
He's someone you want.
I don't care what the hell the liberal press and the rest.
You see, the main thing is we have to realize that people say he's the most dangerous one.
That means he becomes the mediator for it.
He's our favorite candidate, but so is that.
You see this?
That's right.
The viral account is exactly the kind of thing.
Exactly the kind of thing.
The more I look at it, the more I see it.
I think it's a good thing for us to do a, to do a new thing.
I would do it sometimes, if you said, but I'm just trying to do a little bit of that.
Well, what are the options?
Isn't that, uh, well, it's just like a slow water, basically.
It's a tremendously honest man.
I certainly didn't pay that actually help me in this part, by the way.
Well, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,
No, I didn't say that.
Wow.
Yeah.
This was accepted, by me, far too uncritically.
I'm a fellow government official, and the only result would not be when I come for a draft of 30 different calls with any more practical and careful work done than I would.
This was a catalyst at hand for which responsibility is hereby accepted.
There's also a new application to try the list that I was given with the book, which was a round-the-clock, but I was determined as a politician that he can hold his power in his constant account.
What he truly lacked is the...
I'm not sure we're going to be very far off that line.
Mr. Dalloway, be sure to take that post-conferences booze that somebody
take the key things, like, um, I'm saying, uh, and bring all that, uh, all that answer, but who, who did the, uh, what do you mean, the smaller thing, like, um, uh, you can try to pin this wire cap, this is a fewer programmed wire cap, and you remember that brush, didn't I?
It's a, it's a bicycle, a bicycle, I just, you know, somebody check whose program it is.
But, uh, have you done that, or are you gonna do it, or what?
I had a letter, uh, one
Now, all of you should follow up on that, but he's also busy, and I know they're going to have to deal with the kind of stuff we're going to have to deal with.
Just be sure it's not a pair that you have every time you get to take the...
He curls up because people do not read that transcript that they are going to have to follow up with.
They don't read it.
Now, we've been doing this for a week or so, and I think it's about two or three people that we've been following up with.
We've been doing it for about two or three weeks.
I was very gracious, wasn't I?
Oh, I should be a sick man.
I'm sure they'll do it.
He's just been saying this so long that people just identify him for whatever reason.
We're going to do the same thing.
That's the picture of how much he expected we'd have there.
Do you see what that is?
Do you see what that is?
That's the picture of it.
That's the picture of it.
That's the picture of it.
That's the picture of it.
I hear you damn right.
I hear you.
Oh, they're actually violent.
They mean they'll make it a murder.
The McGovern platform, no.
Unless it is a left-wing... Oh, that's right.
No, that's right.
We've got to be damned here.
We don't do that.
No.
Exactly.
I think there ought to be a...
The McGovern platform ought to be... Somebody ought to start writing that right now.
They see some extreme positions.
Go to the McGovern platform.
Get somebody on that right away.
Call up the McGovern platform.
Pop.
And, uh, and, uh, use direct quotes.
Use those words, direct quotes.
That's a good, there's a good million piece for you to, uh, to go to the, uh, and not to go around the government platform.
Pot.
Abortion.
That's the worst quote.
Uh, I mean, liberation.
Worst quote.
Oh, see?
That seems to be a very effective piece.
We have a little, we could probably do a very little defense.
Top $30 billion.
Yeah.
It's a very good thing to do.
But where are those people right now?
Well, I would think certainly now that kind of a lot of people will be here.
I mean, a lot of the Democrats ought to be just ready to go to work.
They've just got the office.
There's no way to go.
I didn't see it.
I used to be a star.
Yeah, on the Post.
Yeah, of course.
But he had a period.
We've got to get away from the government.
We've got to do the best we can.
We've got to be old.
We've got to be strong.
We've got to be trustworthy.
We've got to take pride in it.
We've got to do as many as we can.
We've got to do what we can.
We've got to do what we can.
If you make the point that the government says it already, then we've got to do the best we can.
We've got to do the best we can.
We've got to do what we can.
We've got to do what we can.
We've got to do what we can.
I'll tell you what, mister.
Come over.
I need you.
We've got a question that I want to ask you.
At the school, you said I should put up with the shame.
They warned that I was going to run out of money, and I was going to throw them off wherever they went.
I don't think I ever thought you could afford it, but I don't think you did.
Well, as you, as you know, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a,
I'm concerned about his, as a result of his attempt to speak on the Democratic platform, that some of the people who have indicated does will say, well, he's satisfied.
It's sort of an evil party that's pulling together two of them.
It's a big deal.
It's a big deal.
It's a big deal.
It's a big deal.
It's a big deal.
uh um
We're going to have to work it out.
Anyway, get off and take a little time.
I'm going to go out and get in the helicopter.
I'm going to take some time today.
I'll tell you, we're going to get a little caught up with you.
Right.
Thank you.

NARA Description

On June 24, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:22 am to 9:50 am. The Camp David Study Table taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 134-005 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 134-5

Date: June 24, 1972
Time: 9:22-9:50 am
Location: Camp David Study Table (telephone)

The President talked with Charles W. Colson.

[See also Conversation No. 194-6]

     President's schedule
          -Visit to flood area in Steeltown, Pa.
                 -Colson’s view
                 -Lyndon B. Johnson's visits to flood sites

                    -The President’s view
               -Disaster plan
                    -Plan with John D. Ehrlichman

     US international economic policies
          -George P. Shultz's conversation with John B. Connally
                -International Monetary Fund [IMF]
          -Colson's conversation with Connally
                -Connally
                      -Mood
                      -Trip abroad
                      -Interests

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/17/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[134-005-w001]
[Duration: 2m 34s]

      1972 campaign
             -John B. Connally
                    -Opinion on polls
                           -Gallup poll
                    -Reaction to Lawrence F. O'Brien, Jr.
                           -George S. McGovern supporters
                                   -Delgates
                    -George P. Shultz recommendation
                    -Return on July 9, 1972
                    -Charles W. Colson’s previous conversation with John N. Mitchell
                           -Activities after Democratic National Convention
                                   -Possible Democrats' dinner with John B. Connally
                                   -Timing

*****************************************************************

     U.S. domestic economic policies
          -Cost of Living Council [COLC]
               -Shultz
                     -The President’s view
                     -Colson’s view
                           -Donald H. Rumsfeld

                           -Ehrlichman
          -Possible administration public statements
          -Exports
          -Economic indicators
               -Consumer Price Index [CPI] figures
                      -Current trend
                           -September
          -Beef issue
               -Storage
               -Government procurement
                      -The President’s view
               -Caspar W. (“Cap”) Weinberger
                      -Compared with Shultz
                      -Conversation with Colson
          -COLC
               -Shultz's role
               -President's schedule
                      -Businessmen
                           -The President’s view
                           -H. R. (“Bob”) Haldeman
                           -Peter M. Flanigan

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/17/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[134-005-w002]
[Duration: 7m 24s]

     1972 election
          -Businessmen's voting preferences
                -George S. McGovern
                -Pierre Rinfret
                      -The President’s opinion
                           -Economist
                           -Jewish
                           -Compared to Daniel P. (“Pat”) Moynihan
                      -Public appearances
                           -Previous appearance on Today show the week of June 12, 1972
                      -Leonard Garment
                           -Relationship with Pierre Rinfret
                           -Introduction of President to Pierre Rinfret
          -Stock market activity in relation to campaign

              -George S. McGovern
                   -The President’s opinion
                         -Potential impact
                         -Level

    George S. McGovern's campaign appearances
        -Black caucus
              -Washington Post
                    -Support for George S. McGovern
                         -Black concerns
        -California
              -Black vote
                    -Percentage
        -Gallup
        -Liberal press
              -Support for George S. McGovern
              -Adlai E. Stevenson, III
              -Compared to Barry M. Goldwater, Sr.’s 1964 campaign
                    -The President’s opinion
                         -Honesty
                         -Media support
        -Wichita
        -New York
        -Unknown person’s statement
              -Support for George S. McGovern
                    -Thomas Grey (“Tom”) Wicker
                         -Support for redistribution

*****************************************************************

    President's previous press conference
         -Haldeman
         -Busing
         -Wiretapping
         -Talking points for spokesmen
                -Colson
                -Haldeman
         -Readership of New York Times transcript
         -Talking points
                -Colson’s role
                     -Distribution
                -Use
                -Television coverage

*****************************************************************

[Previous PRMPA Personal Returnable (G) withdrawal reviewed under deed of gift 05/17/2019.
Segment cleared for release.]
[Personal Returnable]
[134-005-w003]
[Duration: 6m 54s]

     1972 campaign
          -Campaign issues
          -Vietnam War
          -Busing
          -Macomb County, Pennsylvania
               -Trip to Macomb County by John D. Ehrlichman
                     -Weekend of June 24, 1972
          -George S. McGovern
               -Platform committee
                     -Potential political direction of platform
               -Responsibility for platform
               -Use of phrasing to describe platform
                     -Use of George S. McGovern quotations by Republicans
                           -Taxes
                           -Marijuana
                           -Abortion
                           -Gay liberation
                           -Defense cuts
                     -William S. White's June 24, 1972 Washington Post column
                           -Washington Star
                           -Reaction of Democratic Party officials to George S. McGovern
               -Possible acceptance speech
                     -William S. White’s Washington Post column
                     -Democratic Party platform
                     -Potential impact
                           -Hubert H. Humphrey
                           -Edmund S. Muskie
                     -Democrats supporting the President
                     -Democratic Party opposition to George S. McGovern
               -John N. Mitchell
                     -Democrats supporting the President

     Helicopter

*****************************************************************

Also recorded on June 24, 1972

  • 134-001 9:05 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:05 am and 9:12 am.
  • 134-002 9:12 AM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Craig S. Campbell talked on the telephone at Camp David from 9:12 am to 9:14 am.
  • 194-003 9:12 AM · 2 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Craig S. Campbell met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 9:12 am to 9:14 am.
  • 134-003 9:14 AM · 38 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:14 am and 9:15 am.
  • 134-004 9:14 AM · 58 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator talked on the telephone at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:14 am and 9:15 am.
  • 194-004 9:14 AM — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:14 am and 9:15 am.
  • 194-005 9:15 AM · 48 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 9:15 am and 9:22 am.
  • 194-006 9:22 AM · 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Charles W. Colson met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 9:22 am to 9:50 am.

All 34 conversations from June 24, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 134-005, June 24, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/134-005 (accessed October 8, 2026).